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Bluetooth GPS Loggers

I mentioned having bought a Nokia N95 8GB that had an Internal GPS.Trouble is one has to slide out the Number Pad (as the GPS Antenna was below it) , and it had to lay horizontal and in clear sight of the Satellites to get the best Reception.

That is fine if you are hiking along green lanes, and take it out of your pocket to see where you are. In a Car, it would need to lay on the Dash to get the best reception, so how can you view it from there. Know how hot it gets on the Dash with the sun streaming through - how long will a Smart phone survive in such heat?

I was not going to mount such phone that cost php24K, to the handlebars of my XT225 motorcycle, it in horizontal position, where you can hardly view it for one thing. Where shocks, and vibration, to say nothing about the heat of the sun and the damage from rain.

So to get around this problem, I bought an external Bluetooth GPS Logger from WINTEK - WBT-201, as I already posted, and it cost about $100.

This (1) Records GPS Data Tracks according to predefined criteria (like must be over a certain speed , like 2kph, so it auto pauses when stopped, and Not above a certain speed , to eliminate random Track points. If that passes, then it can be a) Time - every 1 second for example or b) Distance, every 2m for example, Heading, deviation of say 2 Degrees to left or to right, or c) combination of Time or distance. (2) Outputs NMEA Data over Bluetooth Link.

The Wintek WBT-201 uses the U-Blox 5 chipset.

I discovered on a Forum, that it is possible to 'tweak' the Settings of the WBT-201 U-Blox GPS Chipset, so it can output the NMEA Data @ 2Hz, or 4Hz, rather than the standard 1Hz.

Initially I tried setting to 2Hz and that seemed to work, so then tried 4Hz NMEA output and that seems to also work (but still recorded @ 1Hz logging, internally within the WBT-201).
The Sports-Tracker application that I liked using, seems to only log the incoming NMEA Data over the Bluetooth link, as 1 Second Track Points!

I just needed a suitable application on my Nokia N95 8GB, that would record this 4Hz NMEA Data coming in over the Bluetooth Link.

Read on some Forum, that one potential application, that several reported using successfully, was 'Race Chrono'

Mobile software made by motorsport enthusiasts

RaceChrono™ is a data logging software for all kinds of sports. It runs on S60 and Windows Mobile smart phones and uses position data from your GPS receiver to determine lap times and performance.

RaceChrono is developed by a team of Finnish sports enthusiasts who have made their careers in the IT-business. RaceChrono is currently a hobby project for it's authors.

I am NOT using it to Map a Race Track, so it can then give me Lap Times and Speed etc. I am using it, so my Nokia N95 8GB can become a High Speed GPS Data 'Logger' only.

No attempt to display Tracks on Maps, just log the NMEA Data, coming in over the 'Paired' Bluetooth Port.

I will try it out, properly, on this Sunday's Green Trail Ride #16 in the Hills of San Fernando, Cebu.

NB: I have the WBT-201 to Log on 'Change of Heading', so it supposedly only Logs if you deviate to Left or Right by the selected amount (I have my WBT-201 currently set for 4 Degrees Deviation ie no Track Logs unless Deviate > 2 Degrees Left or 2 Degrees Right.

The NMEA Stream outputs @ 4 Tracks Points per Second, with this Rate set to 250ms, but not every time?

Here is a sample of such Track Log from my WBT-201, exported from Race Chrono as .gpx and input to MapSource:-

Here is image view, from MapSource screen grab, of that Track section from our GTR#16 Ride on Sunday 4th September, where I logged the above New Track to Aloguinson, not on RG2.0 with WBT-201 set to Logging Rate = 250ms, recorded to Internal Memory

For comparison, here is image of that same section of GTR#16, but recorded to the Race Chrono application on my Nokia N95 8GB, via the NMEA GPS Data stream over the WBT-201Bluetooth Link

The internal Log recorded on the WBT-201 seems almost as good as the streamed NMEA O/P,(no visible difference between Tracks on Map, when viewed on MapSource), so will use that for all my contributions to "Upload your 1-sec tracks for calibration here" .

Unless that is,someone can give good argument that for why the NMEA GPS Data Stream is superior (as it more 'fiddly' to set up and one needs to check the Bluetooth 'pairing' is not cancelled if one strays from the WBT-201 too far and/or too long a time)?

Think that shows WHYRoadGuide.ph prefer 1 Sec Track Logs, even for New Tracks, since my Garmin Nuvi 255 with HWID 1074 does not record ang 'gps.bin' file (even if i activate the 'Easter Egg' Debug Diagnostic mode, and start it.

That Red Track from MapSource clearly shows it to be inferior to 4Hz Logging.

Think I will as jpcebu for copy of his 1 Sec Tracks, as recorded on that same GTR#15 on his Garmin Nuvi 1490 as I discovered/showed/set his 1490 to enter Diagnostic Logging before, we set off.

His Nuvi batteru went flat' but not until we reached Pinamungahan, so he should have logged that New Track to Aloguinson

I would be good to compare his Diganostic Track Log (saved as a GPX File, rather than .bin), with my WBT-201 Tracks @ 4Hz.